OK! ICONS KYLIE MINOGUE
AS SHE PREPARES TO PLAY GLASTONBURY, WE LOOK AT THE SINGER’S INCREDIBLE CAREER
With Kylie Minogue preparing to take the Pyramid Stage for the Sunday teatime Legend slot at Glastonbury, it’s set to be a summer to remember for the pint-sized pop princess. The event marks the 51 year old’s first ever solo performance at the festival, coming 14 years after she was forced to cancel the same gig due to her breast cancer diagnosis in 2005. ‘I’m bound to cry. On stage? It’s going to happen,’ says the singer, who has also released her greatest hits album Step Back In Time: The Definitive Collection to coincide with this weekend’s performance.
Whether the heavens open in true Glasto style or not, Kylie promises a simple but unashamedly nostalgic collection of feel-good hits, and recently joked: ‘Dolly Parton just walked on out. Lionel Richie just walked on out. I mean, I’ll sashay on out.’
It’s this tongue-in-cheek knowingness that has made Kylie a universally adored star for over three decades. A selfconfessed ‘show pony’, she’s a diva without the attitude. But there’s plenty of hard graft involved in becoming a pop icon. ‘None of this was handed to me,’ she says. ‘There have been times when I’ve thought, I just can’t. But you’ve got to take the knocks because they’re always coming. It ain’t all roses.’
The eldest of three, Kylie was born in Melbourne on May 28 1968 to Carol, a dancer, and Ron, an accountant. Younger sister Dannii was to follow in her sister’s showbiz footsteps while little brother Brendan
now works as a cameraman. Kylie was just 11 when she embarked on her acting career and she became an established face on the soap circuit, starring in The Sullivans, Skyways and The Henderson Kids before bagging her big break as Neighbours’ poodle-permed mechanic Charlene in 1985.
Kylie’s on-screen romance with Jason Donovan – aka Scott Robinson – culminated in a TV wedding that drew 20 million viewers in the UK. Life imitated art when the pair fell in love and later recorded the duet Especially For You. Kylie had always nurtured pop aspirations. Having taken singing lessons aged 16, she made a demo cassette before recording her first single Locomotion in 1987. An invitation from Stock Aitken Waterman to come and record in London followed, and in late 1987 she released her insanely catchy breakout single I Should Be So Lucky. World domination was on the horizon!
More hits followed but as the cheesy ’80s morphed into the grungy ’90s, the Aussie girl next door matured into an edgy ingénue. She started dating INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence, describing him as ‘a dark bad boy and I was the pure, good girl’. She later said: ‘Sex, love, food, drugs, music, travel, books, you name it, he wanted to experience it. As his partner I got to experience a lot of that as well. If you’re a sensual being, all of your senses need stimulation. He definitely awakened my desire for things in my world.’ Kylie and Michael split in 1991, and soon after he fell for Helena Christensen. Kylie was devastated, and more
than 20 years after his tragic death in 1997, she admitted: ‘He broke my heart. The hurt stayed for quite a long time.’
Meanwhile, Kylie’s career continued to soar and her 2001 single Can’t Get You Out Of My Head later became the most played record of the noughties. Three BRIT Awards and a Grammy followed.
But it was in the midst of her continuing success that Kylie faced the toughest challenge of her life. After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, she explained: ‘The moment my doctor told me, I went silent. My mum and dad were with me. Then we all fell to pieces.’
Though she made a full recovery, the star recently revealed that her health battle put a stop to any plans to start a family in the future. She said: ‘I was 36 when I had my diagnosis. Realistically, you’re getting to the late side of things… While that wasn’t on my agenda at the time, it changed everything.’ But she adds: ‘I don’t want to dwell on it, obviously, but I wonder what that would have been like.’
At the time, Kylie was dating French actor Olivier Martinez, but their four-year romance ended in 2007. Her subsequent relationship with Spanish model Andrés Velencoso ended in 2013 after five years.
She later met actor Joshua Sasse on the set of US TV show Galavant, but their seemingly fairy-tale romance was short lived, and they ended their year-long engagement in 2017. Reflecting on their relationship, Kylie says: ‘I regret lying to myself. Like: “This is okay,” and doing the merry dance. I don’t see myself doing
it again. I’ve met someone who I feel good with,’ she adds.
And that someone is GQ creative director Paul Solomons. The couple were introduced my mutual friends in February 2018. Kylie says: ‘It feels right. People say: “Your face changes when you talk about him,” and it does. Happiness. He’s an inspiring, funny, talented guy. He’s got a real-life actual job! It’s lovely.’
The pair reportedly celebrated Kylie’s 51st birthday last month with a romantic dinner. But after more than 30 years at the top of her game, how long does she plan to remain on the pop throne?
‘I don’t know how much time I’ve got before my showbiz hips and knees start to protest,’ she recently joked. ‘They’ll be like: “You’ve been treading those boards for a long time, we think you should slow down a bit.”’
We don’t know who Kylie is trying to kid, but we can’t imagine a world without her spinning around on stage – and somehow we’re certain her fans would agree.